Good morning, Mr. Chairman and honourable members of this committee. I thank you very much for inviting us here today.
I am pleased to be here before you. My title is assistant commissioner of national security criminal investigations, and I am currently responsible for all aspects of national security criminal investigations, including investigational requirements, training needs, policy, national security, legislative affairs, and the implementation of the recommendations from the O'Connor inquiry.
I am here today as a representative of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. I am currently the chair of the counter-terrorism and national security committee. Prior to that I was a member of the law amendments committee.
If I may, I would like to start out by making a few general comments about the modern security environment facing Canada. The threat landscape looks like this: Canada is the only one of the five countries named as a target by al Qaeda that has not yet been attacked, and as such, we face a real and significant terrorist threat. I see no reason to disagree with the consensus opinion expressed by those like former MI-5 Chief Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, who asserted that the threat is generational and will be with us long after today's cadet is a commissioner.
Allow me to repeat the cliche. This issue is not about knowing whether an attack will occur but rather when. The threat is there, lurking at the very heart of our society. Local extremism does exist in Canada. We've seen it among the 18 individuals arrested in Toronto last June. We had also seen it in the individual arrested in Ottawa in 2004.
Both cases are before the courts.
As was the case in the 7/7 bombings in London, these were individuals who lived, worked, and participated as members of the society they targeted--our society. We must never forget that terrorism, at its root, is about criminal activity, targeting the state through its citizens, whether it be by inflicting mass casualties or creating mass fear. People who intend to harm our citizens and our country must be stopped, and they must be stopped using methods that do not undermine our core values. Invariably this is a job for law enforcement, and we are evolving to do that job effectively.
The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police counter-terrorism and national security committee, which I chair, recently developed and adopted eight key principles on national security that clearly lay out the roles and responsibilities of all layers of law enforcement in national security criminal investigations. While we have not yet specifically discussed witness protection as a committee, there is one idea that runs through the key principles: the need to apply every tool available, including the witness protection program, to the fight against terrorism.
As explained to you previously by the assistant commissioner of federal and international operations, Raf Souccar, the witness protection program is an extremely important tool for law enforcement. In Canada, as in many other countries around the world, a good and reliable witness protection program has proven its value in the fight against crime, especially organized crime and terrorism. High-profile informants and key witnesses are more willing to testify knowing that a program is available to protect them against retaliations. However, it should be noted that in the witness protection program it does not confer immunity to these individuals from a responsibility for criminal actions, either before or after they enter the witness protection program. As is the case for every other citizen of our country, individuals in the witness protection program are accountable for their actions.
Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for allowing me to make these opening comments, and I will be pleased to answer your questions.
Thank you.